1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ice-cream maker for making ice cream domestically easily, by which all steps of ice-cream making can be performed automatically.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional ice-cream maker comprises a material vessel into which ice-cream materials are put, a freezing cycle for freezing the materials, and a stirring means for stirring the materials. The conventional ice-cream maker is designed so that ice cream is made while materials are frozen and stirred. As an easier ice-cream maker, there is known an ice-cream maker in which ice-cream materials put into a double-structure vessel filled with a low-temperature holding agent are cooled while a stirring blade is rotated manually or by means of motor driving, or the like. Such an ice-cream maker is beginning to be popularized because it is very easy in the point that ice cream can be made simply by merely cooling the low-temperature holding vessel.
Incidentally, egg yolk, sugar, fresh cream and milk are generally used as ice-cream materials. Accordingly, a step of heating the materials is essential for the purposes of: killing bacteria contained in these materials, the vessel, etc.; accelerating the dissolution of the materials; and enhancing the flavor and taste of ice cream. In the conventional ice-cream maker, however, it was necessary to carry out the step of heating and sterilizing the materials separately because the conventional ice-cream maker was provided with no means for heating the materials. Accordingly, it was impossible to make ice cream consistently by such a ice-cream maker.